The Gospel to the Ends of the Earth

Take for instance the outcome of last Sunday’s Patriots game. The photo capture above is from a video of a spontaneous celebration that broke out aboard an airplane as the ball cleared the uprights in the last seconds of the game. It’s a great picture of how hard it is to contain good news when we hear it.

Similarly, my Facebook feed is exploding with posts about December 18. If you’re not sure what’s happening that day, you’re probably living in a shell. On Dec. 18, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, releases. This is apparently pretty big news—the kind of news fans can’t stop talking about.

So if trivial matters like football games and films are so good we can’t help but share them with others, what about the best news of all? What about the news that life is not meaningless; that there is a God who made us, who rules us, who has the right to judge us, but who loves us and sent his only Son to redeem us and reconcile us to himself, that we might know, enjoy, and glorify him forever?

The good news of Jesus was never meant to be a private matter for a pious few. It was always meant to go public. Jesus didn’t perform his miracles in a corner, or die secretly behind a curtain or closed doors. He lived in the open, teaching publically in Jerusalem and from town to town. He died in the open, hung on a cross for all the world to see. And he rose in the open, appearing to his disciples, even up to 500 of them at one time (1 Cor. 15:6).

And before he ascended to his Father in heaven, he sent his disciples out into the open—to bear witness to all nations that Jesus is the true King of heaven and earth and Savior of all humanity. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

The gospel is the best news in the world, and it’s worth sharing with all people everywhere.